mercy bears richer
fruits than strict justice
-
Abraham Lincoln
Susan G. Kellman, is an experienced litigator and criminal defense attorney in New York City, with a varied national and international practice. Although primarily based in New York City, Ms. Kellman has practiced in federal district courts in the Northern District of New York, the Eastern District of Virginia, the Southern District of Florida, among other jurisdictions. She is serves as an instructor of trial tactics at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, at Cardozo Law School. Most recently, Ms. Kellman was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers.
Prior to entering the private practice of law, Ms. Kellman spent ten (10) years working for the New York State Legislature as an administrative aide and later counsel, to three Assembly Speakers. Thereafter, she briefly worked as Special Counsel to the Chancellor of the Board of Education, Frank Macchiarola.
Admitted to practice in the state of New York in 1979, Ms. Kellman graduated Magna Cum Laude, with a bachelors degree from SUNY at Albany, in 1972, and received her Juris Doctor, from Union University, in 1978. Ms. Kellman is also admitted to practice before the federal district courts in the Eastern, Southern and Northern Districts of New York, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the United States Supreme Court.
Since 1981, Ms. Kellman has tried in excess of 100 federal felony matters, to verdict, before juries in district courts around the country. She has represented clients charged with criminal matters involving money laundering, stock/financial/bank fraud, tax fraud, insider trading, racketeering, and narcotics trafficking. Ms. Kellman has represented clients throughout New York; Boston, Mass.; Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; Orlando, Florida; Los Angeles, California; Philadelphia, Pa.; Richmond & Alexandria Va; Washington, D.C.; and overseas extradition matters in Hong Kong; Panama; Paris, France; Athens, Greece; and Latvia. Ms. Kellman is a member of the Criminal Justice Panels in the Eastern District of New York and the Southern District of New York.
Many of the trials in which Ms. Kellman was counsel involved highly publicized national and international criminal investigations, including: the 1985 “Pizza Connection” case, a 33 count indictment charging more than a billion dollars in money laundering and heroin trafficking. Ms. Kellman’s client was acquitted of all money laundering and narcotics charges. Ms. Kellman also tried the 1985-86 Colombo case brought by the Southern District of New York and the 1987 case brought in the Eastern District of New York, against John Gotti and alleged associates. Ms. Kellman’s client in the Gotti case was acquitted on all counts. In 1988 and 1989, Ms. Kellman was involved in the trial and re-trial of a substantial anti-trust matter. The first matter ended in a hung jury and Ms. Kellman’s client was acquitted following the re-trial. In 1993, Ms. Kellman defended an alleged member of an Asian gang called the “Green Dragons” and in 1994, she represented a member of the crew of the “Golden Venture,” this was a ship that smuggled aliens into New York waters. These defendants were charged with alien smuggling and murder.
Ms. Kellman has been involved in the resolution of several insider trading matters and bank/credit card fraud. She tried a multi-million dollar money laundering and narcotics matter involving a nationwide conspiracy which touched New York, Baltimore, Md., Washington, D.C., Atlanta Georgia, and Los Angeles, Ca. In August, 2007, Ms. Kellman tried an extortion case in the Eastern District of New York, which ended with the acquittal of both defendants. Additionally, Ms. Kellman has been designated “lead counsel” on several death eligible matters in the Eastern District of New York.